The present invention relates to catalytic chemical reactions and, more specifically, to novel methods of performing reactions enhanced with catalytic activity of a solid body of catalytic material.
Many chemical processes, on large commercial scales as well as at the laboratory level, are carried out with the aid of catalysts. Although the exact nature of the catalytic phenomenon is not fully understood, a wide variety of materials have been empirically identified which alter in some manner the chemical reactions of one or more other materials in the presence of the catalyst. For example, nitrogen and hydrogen normally react with one another at an extremely slow rate to form ammonia. However, in the so-called Haber process, when hydrogen and nitrogen are passed over an iron catalyst, doubly promoted with K.sub.2 O and Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 at high temperatures and pressures, the rate at which the two elements react, is greatly enhanced. Consequently, the Haber process is extremely important in the commercial production of ammonia.
Prior experimentation has indicated that the catalytic activity of some solids is based upon the presence of discontinuities or crystal defects, which are contacted by the reacting materials. This enhanced chemical activity (catalysis) occurs at the site of such defects, which may comprise any disturbance of the perfect atomic lattice structure of the catalyst. The present invention is concerned with reactions employing catalysts wherein the property, or one of the properties, of the catalytic body which affects catalytic activity is the presence of surface defects. Although materials exhibiting this property are not commonly grouped in a separately defined class of catalysts, a large number of such materials have been identified, and experimental determination of whether any given material exhibits this property in a particular reaction is relatively simple. For convenience, materials which act as catalysts in at least some reactions wherein catalysis occurs at the site of a defect in the surface contacted by the reacting materials will hereinafter be termed "defect catalysts".
A principal object of the present invention is to provide novel methods for enhancing the level of catalytic activity in defect catalysts.
A further object is to provide a novel method of creating surface defects in a material whose catalytic activity is enhanced by such defects without physically contacting the material.
Another object is to provide a method of rejuvenating a catalyst without removing it from a reactor, or otherwise changing its position.
Still another object is to provide a method of improving the ability of a material to act as a catalyst through the application of electrical and/or magnetic fields.